Road policing officer: We will not learn from Waverley
Thursday, 28 June 2018
A few months ago, following the publication of a report recommending lower speed limits on our roads, I penned an opinion piece published by Stuff as to why we should not fear a lower speed limit.
The opinion was based on my experiences travelling on State Highway 2's 'safer speed limit' east of Auckland's Bombay interchange and the message was threefold.
First a reduced speed limit does not mean longer journeys. By not having to speed up and slow down constantly a decent average speed was achieved. Second, by travelling at or just under the speed limit fuel efficiency savings can be substantial. And finally, that since this experience I have found myself an even more patient driver than beforehand when it comes to slower moving traffic. Predictably many of the comments my opinion resulted in were of the 'you have no right to hold me up' and 'I have the right to travel 100 km/h' variety.
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Yesterday there was a tragedy at Waverley in South Taranaki where seven people, including two children, lost their lives in a two vehicle crash. The media, as is their job, speculated on speed being a factor in this crash and if a lower sped limit would have prevented this tragedy occurring. Once again some comments were along the lines of speed itself not being a killer, we should have a higher speed limit and other 'populist' theories of our road deaths, most by outspoken keyboard warriors.
For the last 34 years when it comes to road safety I have not only talked the talk but I have walked the walk as a road policing officer. Nine years as a traffic officer and 25 years as a sworn police constable, including the last seven years on a highway patrol. In fact I live 10 minutes from where yesterday's incident occurred and drive that portion of roadway as part of my beat every work day.
The average Kiwi is a salt of the earth, give you the shirt off their back type, until they get behind the wheel of a motor vehicle when they become selfish, self absorbed and develop a to hell with everyone else attitude on the road. And they refuse to acknowledge this fact.
There was the driver of a van whose speed ranged from 82 -94 km/h and who went from left wheels across the fog line to right wheels over the centre line because he was driving while drinking from a coffee cup in his left hand and smoking a cigarette in his right hand who saw nothing wrong with the control of his vehicle.
There was the driver last Saturday who less than 3 kilometres from yesterday's crash was caught driving 124 km/h downhill towards another 85 km/h corner past which were road works, the warning signs he had already passed. His excuse for his speed? He had turned his cellphone off to conserve the battery so didn't get the warning beep from his app that lets him know when he is speeding.
When I pointed out the 85 km/h corner he said 'That's only advisory, it's not compulsory' but admitted he had no idea of the number of crashes, including fatalities, I have attended in the last 20 years where vehicles have gone too fast around that corner and ended up rolling 30 metres down the bank.
Later that day I came back the other way through those road works and was stopped at the one way portion. I knew, having driven it, that vehicles coming towards me passed a 'Road Works 30 km/h restriction ahead' sign 400 metres before the 30 km/h signs. They then rounded a corner to where the road works commenced. While sitting there I watched a number of vehicles come around the corner at open road speed and brake suddenly to avoid running into the back end of the queue.
And while sitting in a 70 km/h temporary zone that night, put in place because the crash barrier on the outside of the corner had been hit and damaged, every driver I stopped said they had not seen the signs even though they were in plain sight.
Most drivers are simply incapable of estimating distance. Every time I stop a car on the highway I park so that the driver's side of my car is well to the left of the fog line. If the driver I have stopped does not leave me a safety margin between his car and the traffic lane I approach from the passenger's side. Invariably drivers travelling in the same direction swerve across the centre line of the road despite having the whole lane width to travel. And if the centre line is a yellow 'No Passing' line, well that makes no difference at all. Just hope and pray that you are not driving the other way when those 50 tonne trucks coming towards cross those yellow lines into your lane.
I regularly stop drivers for following too close and my first question is always 'How many cars bumper to bumper could you have fit between you and the car in front?'. The answer is usually somewhere from one to three. When I ask 'How many should you be able to fit?' then the answer is from three to five. When I say that the average car is 4.5 metres in length and that you should leave 4 metres, or one car length, for every 10 km/h, most claim not to have been told that. And yet it is written in the road code with minimum following distances from 40 to 90 km/h well set out.
Every multi-vehicle crash has a driver at fault and at least one driver who has done nothing wrong. And claiming to be a 'safe', 'careful' or 'great' driver and that crashes are the fault of others does not prevent you from being hurt or killed by other driver's actions. You will never have had to knock on a stranger's door to tell them their loved one has been injured or killed in a crash. I have lost count of the times I have done just that.
Finally, let me leave you with my most vivid memory from 34-plus years of road policing. It was a nice summer Saturday afternoon on Great South Rd, Penrose, over 30 years ago.
The driver of a rear engined Skoda was travelling over the speed limit, but not enough to get a ticket. They came around a corner and found a truck stationary waiting to turn right. They had no room to go around and no time to stop due to their speed.
Why is that my most vivid memory? Because of the feet of the two toddlers who had been in the back of the car sticking out from under the blue fire service tarpaulin that had been used to cover their small bodies. One child had lost their shoe in the impact.
Please, watch the road, be aware of warning signs, including corner advisory speeds, slow down before you get to the road works or lower speed limit signs. And have a safe journey.